If you are running for Congress, having a billionaire, liberal media mogul for a father might in some circumstances be regarded as an advantage. Not if you are Teddy Turner.

“On a normal day, it’s 75 per cent curse and 25 per cent blessing,” said Mr Turner, an ultra-conservative economics teacher who is running for Congress in South Carolina and who just happens to be one of five children of Ted Turner, the founder of CNN and former husband of Jane Fonda.

“What we normally say is that the Turner family discount is 30 per cent above retail,” he said.